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Nuclear Weapons :
A vote on passage of a Democratic amendment to the fiscal year 2005 Defense Authorization Act (S. 2400) to prohibit the Defense Department from using $36.6 million authorized in the bill for programs to study a new generation of nuclear weapons. (2004 senate Roll Call 113)

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A vote on passage of a Democratic amendment to the fiscal year 2005 Defense Authorization Act (S. 2400) to prohibit the Defense Department from using $36.6 million authorized in the bill for programs to study a new generation of nuclear weapons.

Saying America should not be engaging in another arms' race, Sen. Edwards Kennedy (D-Mass.) championed this progressive-backed amendment to the fiscal year 2005 Defense Authorization Act (S. 2400) to prohibit the Defense Department from using $36.6 million -- authorized in S. 2400 -- for programs to study a new generation of nuclear weapons. The Senate rejected Kennedy's amendment 42-55, meaning study of the two proposed weapons -- a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator "bunker buster" to attack sites buried underground and a low-yield "mini" nuclear weapon that could be used on the battleground - would be allowed under the Senate bill. Conservatives argued that the money in the bill is for study only, and not for the testing or development or construction of the new nuclear weapons. They also said it would be foolhardy for the United States to lose its technological edge in the development of advanced nuclear weaponry. Kennedy rebutted, "As President Reagan would say, 'There you go again' -- another major blunder in foreign policy. Our goal is to prevent nuclear proliferation. How does it help for us to start developing a new generation of nuclear weapons? It's a shameful double standard," he added.